Tag: Home Sweet Home

I have many roles in my life, of course, but I see “homemaker” as part of my identity. It’s not a consolation prize or because I’m not empowered. Now when asked about what I do for work, instead of telling people only about my for-profit pursuits as a self-employed person I’m now also sharing that I’m a homemaker. I even added it to my LinkedIn profile! The conversation usually goes something like this:

“I love cooking and cleaning! When Wayne comes home he has a hot, nutritious dinner made from scratch waiting for him on the table.”

I sometimes get a look, so I follow up with: “You know, like June Cleaver.”

“Well as long as it’s a choice,” is a common response, or a variation along the lines of concern that I’m fallen prey to antiquated societal dictates. No. Well yes less the dictates. It is a conscious choice! Is it so odd for a woman to consciously choose to find joy in house work or apartment work, wherever you live work? Does that make one a vapid throwback?

Gregory, the Terrible Eater was forced to eat junk which for his family meant literal garbage. It’s a cute 1980s children’s book about choosing healthy eating, but sadly that choice isn’t exactly a reality today. You’ve likely seen some of the heartbreaking images of plastic waste killing marine and wildlife. It shouldn’t be surprising, then, that a recent study revealshumans are ingesting 50,000 particles of microplastic a year and breathing in a similar quantity. We are now involuntary consumers of plastic, literally, and our planet is being consumed by it. How can we stop this if, as consumers, most everything is made with or comes in plastic?

Wayne has been working six days a week for the past couple of weeks, so a three day weekend gave him more time….to work on our organic vegetable garden! I selected our annuals and living accents. Here’s how it all came together:

I had purchased our previous coffee table at an estate sale about ten years ago straight from an in-law house with early 1970s furnishings. I liked it at the time (never loved it) up until this past weekend after I visited an acquaintance living in a 200 plus year old home. I loved the look of an antique blanket chest as a coffee table which they had in their living room, so much so that when I got home I decided I wanted a “new” coffee table. Antique blanket chests can be quite expensive and I don’t see them often at estate sales. Then I remembered the cedar chest in the sunroom!

When I bought it (also at an estate sale and it was packed with vintage linens) it was covered with watered down white paint, so we had covered it up and been using for storage and gardening supplies. Inspired, I went into the sunroom with a scouring pad, sponge and soapy water.

We live in a culture of RENOVATE! UPDATE! BE ON TREND! with the specific dictates changing frequently. We’re confronted with TV shows where a perfectly serviceable kitchen is perceived as some sort of ugly moral failing followed by gleeful smashing it to pieces (instead of salvaging and donating it) to make room for whatever their sponsor/producer/unchecked budget is providing them. Online “influencers” show off their HGTV-worthy homes that are often renovated with a high frequency. It can be easy to feel like there’s something wrong with good enough if it’s not fashionable.

I’m not sure what month the vintage photo was taken, but it likely wasn’t in November! We’ve had record-breaking snowfall this month. It’s ironic because it was only a week and a half ago that Wayne insisted we order that day the sparkly new two-stage snowblower to replace our existing single-stage. I wanted to wait until closer to December so that we could see how it performed in an actual storm and still be within the 30 day window to return it if he didn’t like it. I gave in but not without a bit of an eyeball roll and a comment about his being overly cautious. Well, it won’t be here until this weekend so to make up for it (and burn some calories in advance of tomorrow!) I hand shoveled our entire driveway three times yesterday as a surprise for Wayne for when he got home from work!

One of our wedding gifts was a pair of brass candlesticks that we decided to place in Wayne’s office. When I saw how nice they looked I wanted to keep an eye out for others knowing they add a romantic touch to winter. It’s always a difficult mental and emotional transition in November when the sun sets before 4:30 p.m. so natural light is a gift. Then, a few weeks ago at an estate sale I saw vintage brass and hand blown glass candlesticks on the floor and mantle of the home’s fireplace! I made a beeline and bought all of them for only $40. (It was also Wayne’s first ever estate sale with me since he used to work Saturdays until recently which makes them extra special.) As a wedding gift to ourselves we completed them by ordering a beautiful selection of beeswax candles made in the U.S.A. to replace the cheap and toxic paraffin tapers in use.

Not long ago I posted pics of my semi-complete bedroom mini-makeover featuring a vintage estate sale pink chenille pom pom bedspread and coordinating bed sheets. I had experimented with leaving my 1960s estate sale orange curtains up but decided to buy (gasp) new yellow curtains. I shopped online until I found thermal lined light yellow panels that I thought would look GREAT! But like so many new things these days they were outgassing a caustic chemical odor (GASP) so here’s what I did next.

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Simple Living New England Est. April 2017

I'm Averyl. I grew up in NYC and moved from Manhattan to New England for college and grad school in 1985, then decided to stay! My husband Wayne and I (married September 2018) live in a mid-century cottage at the edge of our woods that's minutes from Portland, Maine and the sea. I enjoy blogging about nature, vintage treasures, spirituality, old-fashioned cooking, Yankee thrift and homemaking.Search for: